PENSIONER plans to defy Foreign Office warnings by travelling to Iraq to honour the war dead on Armistice Day.

PENSIONER plans to defy Foreign Office warnings by travelling to Iraq to honour the war dead on Armistice Day.

Former Royal Marine Bill Jenkins, known as "the lone piper", will travel to play a lament on his bagpipes to remember troops who have lost their lives.

The great grandfather will also pay homage to the 54,000 commonwealth soldiers, including 130 Liverpudlians, buried in Iraq, by laying poppies on their graves.

Mr Jenkins, 69, from Wavertree, is angry that many of the war graves have been desecrated and neglected and hopes his visit will draw attention to the problem.

Mr Jenkins will be paying tribute at Basra war cemetery where sapper Thomas William Galley, 23, of Princes Park, and nursing sister Alice May Blacklock, 30, of Aintree, are buried. Both were killed in 1916 in World War I.

He said: "I am definitely going to Basra and will do my best to get to Karbala. It's a shame I can't get to Baghdad but it's just too risky.

"It has been hard work organising things and I have come up against all kinds of obstacles but I am determined to be there.

"Many of the graves are desecrated and I would love to persuade the new leaders to allow them to be restored.

"Many people think I am mad for attempting this but I am putting this pilgrimage completely in the hands of God.

"As quite a lot of Iraqi children were injured by the bombs, I will be playing a lament for them too."

Mr Jenkins will fly from Manchester to Kuwait on November 5 and travel by road to Iraq.

He has raised the cash for the trip by playing his pipes on streets across Merseyside.

He said: "I remember my family dragging me from the wreckage of our house in Everton in World War II and my mother finding my father dead among the ruins.

"I remember war and I feel a loyalty to the men and women who face horror in our name."

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We have been in contact with My Jenkins and have told him that we advise against all but the most essential travel to Iraq.